How It Looks

How it Looks is far more important than what it IS

This is why school girls have sex with big men in return for Blackberry phones.

Having that phone means everything. Having sex with any passing stranger means nothing. No more than a bowel movement.

Of course it's not just the chronically pathetic that needs material proof that they exist, even those one might consider having 'status' need this form of proof.

The fanciest most complex and expensive, (emphasis on expensive)phones have become the latest status symbol. Especially those phones which have various flaws or are so complicated one needs a degree in Engineering to implement the 'silent' feature.

It is almost funny to see some pompous punk having to remove the battery to stop it from ringing.

Almost funny, because it is largely nauseating.

As we move to 'celebrating' our 50th year of (pardon the pun) Independence the route has been backwards.

Jamaica was far more advanced in 1962 than it is today.

When it came to education, people who could read, could read. They may never have gone beyond Duncan's All Age School, and left at 16 years of age, but they could pick up a newspaper, (which had been written at University level) and read every word, and understand what they read.

Every Ministry worked. Every person who was employed by the Government was of the highest quality and behaved as if they graduated a finishing school. Taking Pride in their work considering what they were doing was important went from the person who sweep the path, to the one who answered the phone, to the exalted Permanent Secretary.

Today, few people can speak English, being encouraged to resort to slop speak. This is amusing to those who like slapstick, but rather detrimental if one sought a job with a multi- national or tried to enter a real University.

Duckspeak as portrayed in 1984 has been fully implemented in Jamaica. This is to refirm the Class structure that was broken in the 70s.

Branding on the tongue is one of those methods in which people participate in their own disenfranchisement.

Along with this comes the disposable income which is disposed of to maintain the level of poverty required.

It is important that people do not have money for education or health or anything positive. Hence having them throw away money on something of no value to them is good for the economy.

Hence here are people who have never entered the Cyber Highway; people who need someone to print their email, with wi-fi phones they can't put on silent.

Why The JLP Lost....

One of the aspects the Jamaican Labour Party
has never taken into consideration is the effect
of their 'supporters' on the truely neutral voter.

These are not the Green shirted bell ringers,
these are those who have never attended a
conference, are unknown to even the counselor
of their area.

They may claim to be 'neutral' but are so
rabid in their 'support' of the JLP so
castigating of anyone connected to the PNP
they are offensive.

They contort their faces, shriek their
positions, which have nothing to do with the
JLP, yet act as if they are endowed with some
special knowledge.

Anyone being subjected to their insane and
inane diatribes responds by rejection.

Just as Clovis's too nasty cartoons of
Portia Simpson-Miller sent voters racing
to mark their X beside the Head, so to
do these 'supporters' garner votes for
the PNP.

Waking Up From the Fantasy

There are times when political parties, so enamoured
of their own 'hype' isolate themselves from reality.

Talking to themselves and their mindless followers
they create a version of the electorate which does
not correspond to the facts.

The Public's response to the Golding Administration
was far different than what those in the safetly
of Belmont Road perceived, until the summer of 2011
when the lies, the spin, the cheers of their minions
could not drown out that most Jamaicans knew Bruce
Golding and his government were liars.

The quick exaltation of Andrew Holness did not have
much effect.

Firstly, the public found him an arrogant little
prick, who actively tried to fool them. They didn't
like him, although he was totally unaware of it.

As many 'leaders' he believed the persiflage of his
sycophants, and had no more connection to the street
than a tourist at an All Inclusive.

The die hard Labourite is a person who has long since
retreated from reality into a world made up of their
opinions.

Their opinions are not based on 'the street' but their
peristalsis. They believe if they talk loud enough
and long enough what they think becomes true.

In December, Labourites so sure they would
win they took no note of how the public felt.
The expression on their faces as they wandered
into their Headquarters after the mammoth
loss spoke volumes.

This did not in any way shake the arrogance of the
JLP Leadership. They made assumptions and continued
in their belief the rejection of the public had
nothing to do with them or their policies.

They made no attempt to mask their contempt for
the average person. They assumed Jamaicans were
too stupid to comprehend.

As the local government elections came into view they
assumed they would win. This was based on nothing.

Everyone knew they would lose.

Areas which had been die hard JLP for decades
boasted orange flags. People were wearing orange
without the slightest qualm.

Yet, they entered the election with the certainty
they would win. Aand they lost.
Very badly.

It is clear that the JLP as it is constituted
will not win any election. Holness has to go
along with the stalwarts, and the level of arrogance
replaced by a heightened form of humility.

The 'die hard JLP' supporter needs to understand
they speak for no one.

2011 Election

Pack up your Bags and Go!

Labourites were dumbfounded.
By 8:00 pm on December 29th it seemed
unbelievable, but the People’s National
Party was in the lead.

Labourites babbled , believing that if
they talk loud enough what they say becomes true.

No one could tell a Labourite what the majority
of Jamaicans thought of the Manatt affair.
Labourite opinions steamrolled over the nation
as if because it came out of their mouths it
was endowed with authority.

Rank and file Labourites, who are almost as
distant from the Leadership as the Veranda
Sitter, had no idea what was going on behind
closed doors.

They didn’t know how Holness got power,
and had no one to ask.

Holness cut every throat he needed to on his
way up, ensuring there was no challenge.
Bruce Golding was forced to step down;
this wasn’t easy as the baseless sense
of his own prestige has always controlled him.

Like telling an ugly girl that she’s beautiful,
or convincing a mundane player that he’s the
best on the team, so too Golding’s false sense of self worth.

It took a week of pressure for Golding to
deign to tell the Jamaican people that he
was stepping down in favour of Holness.

His enormous ego and arrogance was soon dwarfed by Andrew Holness.

Thinking he was Jamaica’s Barack Obama,
Holness didn’t realise he was an unknown
quantity to the majority, but more poignant,
that the sensibilities of Jamaicans were unknown to him.

The Majority of voters in Jamaica are not young.
Politics really matters to those 60 and upwards.
They remember when.....

During the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, there were few
young people active in politics.

The Youth Organisations had their members but
the average Jamaican; 18 - 28 was not interested
in politics.

The majority who attended that JLP conference
in November were over 40. Yet Holness, in his
arrogance took the stage not appreciating he
was talking to people who had followed ‘Bustamante until they died...’

His performance, as if he had a ‘record’
to stand on, (as Minister of Education he
had alienated the teachers and was homeschooling
his own children) was amusing.

But not amusing were the political Ads.

Firstly, Holness, as the majority of Labourites, have
no idea how the entire Dudus/Manatt scandal destroyed
the JLP. Thinking he could claim not to be involved
and pass to another topic was the kind of miscalculation
that destroyed Golding.

Secondly, was the unawareness that the vast majority
of Jamaicans are uneducated. They are sensitive
about their lack of education.
To ridicule Portia Simpson because she didn’t have
an alphabet soup behind her name or behave with
Upper Class decorum, was insulting them.

Every Ad which was anti-Portia lost the JLP more votes.
Yet, in their Ivory Tower, smugly surveying the proles,
the JLP persisted in pushing forward their young, inexperienced, arrogant leader.

Polls have always been suspect.
Anyone who has ever participated in poll
taking knows how questionable the results are.

As the JLP relied on Polls it was not difficult
for the 'uneducated’ PNP supporter to lie.
If the JLP believes it is in the lead, it will
spend less money, do less work, and call
elections at the worst possible time.

Elections interfered in what is the most
lucrative time of the year for the poor.
Xmas Market is the time when people go out
and spend money they can’t afford to buy gifts.

With Elections set for the 29th of December,
and Downtown known as a political hot bed, people stayed away.

Only someone out of touch with real Jamaica
could call elections during that time.

Holness believed the Jamaican people were
stupid and he could rely on non-answers
of technical jargon, and that by saying
a contract can’t be changed people would
believe him, when they themselves have
personally experienced how contracts can be changed.

The People’s National Party had done its canvass.
By the 28th of December 37 seats were ‘certain’.
Hence they knew they had won.
But that was not to be shared.

When election day came, despite the large
number of new names on the voters list,
despite the belief Holness would ‘inspire’
them to vote, they couldn’t be bothered.

The so called ‘neutral’ voters, loud mouthed
Veranda Sitters, couldn’t be bothered

PNP voters went out to vote.
PNP voters made it their duty to vote.
Hence more seats were gained than predicted.

Cabinet Ministers; Dwight Nelson, Chris Tufton,
Robert Montegue, Clive Mullings, lost their seats.
The new ‘young’ MPs were on the PNP ticket.

Everyone in Jamaica, from the Police to Vendor,
from the Lawyer to the labourer, supported the PNP.

Only those in ‘Garrisons’ with old leaders,
Mike Henry, Pernel Charles, Ken Baugh, Horace Chang,
retained them.

Currently 42 seats out of 63 have been won by the PNP.

It doesn’t matter if Holness steps down or not.
Jamaica is sorry that it ever put Golding into
Office in 2007.

All the PNP has to do is be an average government to hold power for a long time.